Hey guys! Sorry for the long wait! I really, truly, probably should have updated this story a long time ago, but I got stuck on parts of this chapter for a really long time. And, then I organized a Nathaniel Kurtzberg week with some friends on mine for Tumblr, which starts today! The first day is Hero or Villain, so it made sense to post this!

If you want to see the rest of the days, you can check out nath-week . tumblr . com!

So, again, sorry for the wait! But I really hope you all enjoy!

~anipwrites

How long had he been asleep? He wasn't sure. It felt like ages

He woke up to Trixx pulling and tugging at his hair, urging him to wake up. His phone was buzzing quietly on his nightstand - - what was that alarm for again?

"Come on, come on, let's go!" Trixx tugged harder, yanking his hair hard. His hand flew up to the aching part of his head - - what was she so excited for?

Oh. Right.

He stood, stretching in an attempt to shake off sleep. Part of him wanted to just curl up in bed, just go back to sleep. No school, no miraculous - - just sleep for awhile. But the other part of him was...mildly excited. He was going to transform, he was going to be a superhero! He had a chance to be something great! Then, there was the third part…

Which wasn't important. He pushed down his feelings and stood to go fix up his hair. It was late, and hopefully nobody would see him anyways, but if he was going to be spotted, he definitely didn't want his first public appearance in spandex to be with a bed-head. He grabbed a hairbrush and comb and set to work, as well as he could with a kwami on his head.

"So, you never explained; how do I transform?" He asked. Trixx lifted off his head and flew in a few excited circles around him.

"All you have to say is 'Trixx, Transforme moi!' And you'll become a superhero!" She said jovially.

"Right…" His heart thundered in his chest as be looked at himself in the mirror. That third feeling was beginning to well up inside him again… "Trixx?"

"Yes, Nathanael?"

"What… What if I'm not good enough?"

"Nathanael, you - -"

"What if I mess up, what if I accidentally ruin everything, what if I end up helping Hawkmoth win?! I'm going to mess up, what if - -"

"Nathanael!" He looked up as Trixx landed in his hair, beginning to pat his head. "You will be fine. We don't have to do anything big today, we don't even have to transform today if you don't want! But I promise you, you'll be just fine. You may make a few mistakes, and that's okay. But you'll be great, amazing even! I can feel it!"

He looked at himself in the mirror one last time, and took a deep breath to calm his nerves. This was a lot of pressure, what with akumas already on the loose and being responsible for keeping all of Paris safe and sound. He wasn't really sure he could do it still. But there was something inside him, some small part of him, pushing away his thoughts and fears and screaming that he could be somebody if he just took a chance. It was his duty, it was a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity, he was chosen for this. If he holed himself away and hid from his new reality, he would be letting Paris down for real. He had to try.

"...N-No. I was chosen for a reason, r-right? Let's do this."

Trxx beamed up at him, tail swishing to and fro. "Just say the magic words"

Another deep breath. He looked at himself in the mirror, finding himself face-to-face with an expression of steel. He was as ready as he'd ever be.

"Trixx, transforme moi!"

Trixx giggled gleefully before flying into the miraculous, and it immediately began to glow with a light so powerful, it was hard to even look at any longer. Quickly after, energy seemed to flow through his entire being, starting from his chest and burning to his fingertips and toes. He closed his eyes and relished just how much power he felt coursing through him.

When he opened them, he wasn't quite prepared for what he saw.

He was wearing a suit of skin-tight spandex, a bright sunburst orange with a thin black line starting at his shoulders and swelling until everything from his elbows down to his fingertips was an inky black. His chest was white, blending into the orange at the edges, the snowy hue continuing all the way down to his thighs. He had black boots, with a shiny black metallic material at the toes - - steel, maybe? - - the same inky black as his forearms. On his face was an orange domino mask with a small tiny curlique stretching out from below his right eye and fading to white at the end. Like a fox tail, he presumed.

That didn't even approach what was on top of his head. Two ears, orange with black tips and white fur inside, rested amongst his hair.

He tugged at his hair, which had become white at the ends, frowning a bit in the mirror. He still wasn't sure he actually deserved this, but… It was his one chance at freedom from a mundane, lonely life. Why not try it out?

He quietly slipped out of the bedroom to the front door, his footsteps silent against the usually-creaky floorboards. As he made his way to the roof, he quickly realized he could hear practically everything; quiet whispers from neighbor's TV sets, mice skittering to and fro in the walls, the soft tapping of a spoon against a bowl as a family ate dinner. It was quite overwhelming; he wasn't sure if he was a fan yet.

'You'll get used to it soon, Nathanael,' Trixx said. 'But if you want, I can try and lower your perception until you're ready?'

"No, I think I'll be fine," he murmured, looking around as he opened the door to the rooftop floor. "Though it's nice to know I can still talk to you like this."

'We don't usually, but since we're training I figured I'd help you out a bit!'

"Oh! Well, thank you!"

The cold night air whipped around him, biting at the exposed parts of his face. The rest of him was kept surprisingly warm, considering how little he was really wearing. Must be a plus to his powers - - a plus he was really appreciating in mid-October. Or perhaps it was just the adrenaline beginning to pound through him as he approached the edge of the rooftop.

'We'll probably need a more private place to practice,' Trixx suggested. Nathanael looked around. There were still a few cars out and about, some people headed out to late-night events… or on the lookout for Ladybug and Chat Noir as they patrol. With so many people keeping an eye to the rooftops of the city, it would be hard for him to get past without someone spotting him. And even if he got past civilians - - who's to say he wouldn't end up falling right into Ladybug's hands?

Though, there were a few places he could try…

'Looking for how to get somewhere? Use your flute!'

"My flute…?"

'Yeah! You can press that first white stripe and it'll show you a screen! You can use it as a communicator and a map!' Nathanael raised an eyebrow but tried it anyhow. Sure enough, it worked.

"Wow… These powers are certainly expansive, hm?" he muttered to himself before finding where he wanted to go. He turned to the rooftops to his left and took a few steps back.

Immediately, panic began to fill his senses. The world seemed to spin around him. This was crazy, jumping around in spandex over rooftops! This was crazy! He could mess up, he could hurt himself, he could die! There was no way he was doing this, there was no way he could do this - -

Except something told him he could. There was a fire burning deep in his gut, driving him forward. So he took a deep breath and ran, taking the leap.

It felt like he was flying. The chasm could have been twenty feet down or twenty-thousand, but the exhilaration he felt as he jumped was incomparable to anything he'd ever done before. And it was over all too soon. When Nathanael's feet touched the ground, he immediately wanted to do it again.

"I… I did it. I did it! I did it! Yes!" he let out a few celebratory whoops before he remembered - - he was trying not to be found, and literally shouting from the rooftops was not a good way to stay unseen. He looked at his flute again to remind himself of his quickest route, and back again at the rooftops of Paris. "I wonder how high I can jump…"

'Only one good way to find out,' Trixx taunted. A smile played across his lips as he took another running start.

Soaring across the night sky, over the unaware heads of a sleepy Paris, Nathanael quickly made his way to La Petite Ceinture. He landed on the tracks and took a quick look around, ensuring no one was here to see him. He'd gone unnoticed, but this part of the track was still fairly open. He followed the tracks along as long as he could, until they were overtaken by weeds and grass in a woodsy area. It was peaceful, and quiet - - the perfect time to get used to his abilities. But what to do first…

He looked at his flute, admiring how the moonlight glinted off of its smooth surface. A lot of his powers did relate to playing the flute… The redhead brought it up to his lips and tried to play. It squeaked a bit, but eventually he was playing - - half-decently. Hopefully he wouldn't need to be a pro at this to do some decent fighting. Although… there were no illusions yet… maybe he was getting this whole 'clever as a fox' thing all wrong, even if he did look like one.

How was he supposed to protect Paris from akumas if he couldn't even use his damn powers? Hell, there was already an akuma out there, and if he wanted to be any help in defeating him and saving all those captive kids, he needed to be ready soon.

Suddenly, his senses were flooded with the sounds of everything around him. He hadn't realized it was so lively, but clearly even if humans didn't come here much there were still other creatures taking advantage of the solitude. But - - Why was everything so loud all of a sudden?

"Trixx? Why is everything so much louder…" he muttered, looking around. Everything was so overwhelming, he was beginning to feel a headache coming on.

'I know, I know. But I heard something, you need to hear it too.' Trixx responded. He nodded quietly and listened more intently, trying to single out one sound in particular. Indeed, after focusing for a bit, he did hear muttering from deeper in the forest, though he wasn't sure what exactly was being said. Except for the word 'Miraculous' and 'pawn shop.'

Oh hell no.

"Who's there?!" he demanded, jumping to his feet as fear coursed through him. How many even were there? Three? Five? Ten?! "I can hear you, all of you, so either go away or face me!

It took a moment, a few moments longer than Nathanael would have liked, but eventually they came out. They came out, alright - - came charging at him, shouting. The yell rung all-too-loudly in his ears (damn heightened senses), and that plus the surprise caused him to stumble back and not much else.

'What are you doing?! Jump!' Trixx shouted at him. So he listened, jumping as high as he could and finding himself above the trees, looking down at them. Then he started to fall back down. 'Now, twist!'

"What?!"

'Twist in the air, this is me teaching you how to fight!'

"Okay, okay," he muttered, twisting in the air. As he kept falling and twisting, the thought of kicking one of the guys in the jaw crossed his mind - - it might scare them off - -

'If you kick that man right now you will kill him. Just land on the ground, and be ready to move once it's over.'

"Once what's over?"

'You'll see. Get ready!' Right, he was about ten feet from the ground now. He got ready to land, right in between the two, hoping his ankles wouldn't shatter or something.

When his feet touched the ground, the surface warped with a bang. The attacker, and two of his friends, were all knocked backwards, and the trees and grass rustled madly. Before the assailants could recover, Nathanael was on the move again, running backwards and putting his flute to his lips and desperately hoping this worked.

'You need confidence!' Trixx demanded.

Alright, fine. He confidently desperately hoped this worked. He took a breath and started to play a note, an awfully beautifully-sounding note considering he had just started playing the day before. A copy of him appeared across the clearing, just a bit closer to the thugs than he actually was. So when his attackers recuperated and saw this copy taunting them from five meters away, they went after him instead of the real one ten meters away.

He stood there a few moments, watching his copy running away and leading the group after a red herring, and he couldn't help but feel extremely satisfied. He'd done it! He could do it! Maybe there was hope of him being a superhero after all! He bounced on his toes a bit, adrenaline still coursing through him, and let out a whoop of pure exhilaration.

Which was a very bad idea.

"Hey, wait a second!" one of the group members near the back said, turning around to face him. "That one's gotta have the real jewel!"

"Fuck,"

'Nathan!' Trixx scolded.

"Sorry!" He turned and ran, hearing the shouts of the attackers behind him. He took a chance and jumped, directing himself towards a tree before landing on a branch and taking off in the trees until he was sure he'd lost them.

Nathanael took a quick glance behind him to make sure they weren't still following, making sure to send another illusion still running down the path just in case before taking the moment to look at his map. To reach civilization and head home, he'd have to go in a completely different direction anyways. After all that excitement, he was about ready to lay in bed and sleep for a thousand years anyhow. He headed down to the ground and peeked around again to make sure he wasn't still being followed before heading that way.

If he remembered correctly, he had three songs left before he really needed to get out of here anyways. Three? Two? He had a few on hand. He could take a moment to walk and enjoy the sounds of nature, that was for sure, and talk to Trixx a bit.

"Did I do a good job?" he asked, breaking the silence between them.

'Of course you did! That was great, you certainly learn fast!' he could sense Trixx grinning, and couldn't help but smile too.

"Glad to know. So, I didn't actually need flute lessons to start using my powers?"

'Well, no, not necessarily. Even if you hadn't gone to lessons with Rose, you would have been able to use your powers if you had confidence - - I'm sure your Ladybug hero didn't know how to travel by yoyo the first time she transformed. Tikki is a lot better at teaching her Holders how to be confident than most of us.'

"Tikki?"

'Ladybug's kwami!'

Right. Ladybug and Chat Noir had miraculous stones, like him. Which meant they had kwamis, like his - - which meant they had to transform to use their powers. Somehow, despite Alya's ardent dedication to finding their identities, he'd never quite realized they had secret identities to begin with. He'd imagined they stayed superheroes all day, running around Paris together helping people and having a good time and always being ready to save the city from Hawkmoth's latest akuma. But no, they'd have responsibilities outside of their costumes as well - - it probably really piled on.

Was he ready to handle all that pressure?

'Of course you are, Nathanael! I'll always be here to help you, and you have friends to count on as well!'

"That's true. With you by my side, I'm sure I can do it!"

'That's the spirit! Maybe we can come out here tomorrow and practice your powers again? There's more for you to learn, and hopefully we can do it before you have to enter an actual battle.'

"What'll we do about the clowns until then?"

'Hopefully we'll be ready to handle it in time. And Ladybug and Chat Noir are always here to help us.'

"Right… do you think they'll like me?"

'How could anyone not?'

"Well, I mean… You know that fox akuma I told you about? What if they think I'm just another akuma trying to trick them?"

'I'm sure we'll be able to convince them otherwise before things get too bad.' Nathanael couldn't help but shudder. He hoped so - - he was never going to be ready to face Ladybug and Chat Noir. They had been doing this hero thing for six months already, it had scarcely been an hour for him.

Eventually they reached a few buildings, and he returned to the rooftops. He sat on a ledge and checked his flute to make sure he was still headed in the right direction before taking off across the Parisian skyline.

Soon he found himself in downtown Paris, still hunting down his house. He wasn't used to having a bird's-eye view of his apartment, and amongst all the clusters of buildings it was quite difficult to even begin to identify which one it was. He was tempted to just detransform and walk home, but if his parents were back then they'd get pissed at him for being out late… to hell with it.

He dropped into a secluded alleyway and stood back onto his feet. "Trixx, detrans - - wait."

That was Lila's bag. Or at least one that looked a lot like her bag, but either way it was strange to see it just lying in an alleyway with no owner. He grabbed the bag and looked out into the street, but she wasn't there, and neither was anyone looking for a bag. The alley went a bit further back, one of many strange alley systems in Paris, so the only option was to look there.

Making sure to be as quiet as possible, he followed the walls until he found himself looking at Lila's back, and a giant hulking clown surrounded by smaller ones he'd seen around - - the same clown that had tried to lure him from the park. He was staring at Lila, his eyes glowing, and there was definitely no sign of her fighting back. But why would she just stand - - wait!

"Lila!" he shouted, running and grabbing her and pulling her back. The clowns all leaped into action, reaching for him. He pulled his flute to his lips and played, still trying to keep a hold on Lila, and conjured a few dozen of himself for them to fight before running off, pulling Lila with him as he leapt to another rooftop and ran. When he felt that he was far enough, he set her down and turned to her. "Are you alright?!"

She wasn't speaking. She just stared at him blankly, eyes a strange glowing yellow.

"Lila?! Lila, snap out of it!"

'That akuma must have put her in a trance of some sort.'

"How do I get her out of it?!"

'I don't know! Hit her or something!'

"What?! No, I'm not hitting her!"

'I mean, like, pinch her or something, you don't have to break her!'

He supposed that was his best shot. He gave her a quick pinch on her inner arm and she jumped, eyes returning to their normal color as she rubbed her arm.

"Ouch! That hurt, why'd you - - whoa…" she stared up at him, gaping. He took a step back, hoping he wasn't too close or anything.

"Are you alright? I'm sorry, I had to pinch you because an akuma put you in a trance."

"I…'m fine. Who…" oh fuck, was she going to ask who he was? He had no clue what to call himself. He needed to change the topic before he ended up being called 'Foxy' or something all his hero-ing life.

"We need to get you home."

"What, you didn't stop the akuma?"

"No, actually, I can't purify akumas and I don't think Ladybug and Chat Noir know about it yet."

"Do they know about you?"

"Eventually. Hold on." Lila wrapped her arms around his neck and he leaped off the roof onto the next one, and the next. "Where's your house from here?

"I have no idea, actually. Never seen my house from up here."

"Same here. So, basically, you need to not follow clowns around the city. You seen the news?"

"Well, yes, but I didn't really believe it. Thought it was some sort of prank."

"That's fair. But it's not. Tell your friends it's not a prank, too. I think he's turning people into his minions."

"Alright, I will. So, you don't work with Ladybug and Chat Noir?"

"Well, no. Not yet." he paused a bit to look around. "But I probably will have to eventually."

"Hm."

"You recognize anything?" Lila took a glance down and winced at the height. "Need me to go lower?"

"Please?" he nodded and made his way to the ground, letting Lila down to the ground while he crouched atop a dumpster nearby. "...I recognize that storefront. I know my way back from here."

"Alright. I need to get going, but promise me not to follow any weird clowns."

"I promise not to follow any weird clowns."

"Okay. See you around," he grinned before leaping off into the night. When he glanced back, he saw Lila waving.

It wasn't until he flopped onto his bed thirty minutes later that he realized he'd never asked her not to mention him.

"Well. People were going to know sooner or later." Trixx sighed as he detransformed, flying over to the bag of bacon on his desk.

"I know, I know. But now Ladybug and Chat Noir are gonna hunt me down." he groaned, clawing his hands down his face.

"At least people will know the clown is an akuma now."

"They're gonna pummel me."

"It'll probably save a few dozen kids now."

"They're gonna beat the snot out of me, grind me into the dirt."

"Probably a few teens and adults too,"

"I'm going to die. I need to write my will."

"You're not going to die. We'll handle it when the time comes, but I promise you that."

Nathan let out a sigh before forcing himself back up. He needed to shower.

After a refreshing shower, he was ready to sleep for once. Except, now that he actually wanted to sleep, he couldn't. Everything was still too loud, he could still hear far too much.

"I must've forgotten to tell you," Trixx said once he mentioned it. "Some of your powers will stick with you whether you're transformed or not. And being able to hear a bit better is one of them."

"So am I never gonna sleep again?"

"You'll get used to it eventually. But there's another thing you can do - - you can kind of make little personal illusions for yourself."

"Well, yeah, it's called LSD, and I'm pretty sure its illegal."

"No, no, no! I mean, with your powers. Just look at the ceiling for a bit and imagine something."

Nathan let out another sigh but tried it anyways. Trying to count sheep, he soon found himself looking at swirls of colors on the ceiling. It was absolutely beautiful. He reached up to touch one of the swirling eddies and his fingertips were on fire with sensation. It was exciting, but also soothing. Soon he found his eyelids getting heavier and heavier...

I really hope you all enjoyed this! Hopefully, the next chapter will come quicker!

This chapter was beta'ed by Wishfulina, Flautist4ever, and Zoozoocala! Go follow them on Tumblr!

I hope you all have a wonderful day!